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Prevalence of diclofenac and other NSAIDs in livestock carcasses
in India
Surveys of livestock carcasses available to vultures from across India have previously revealed that 10% of carcasses contain residues of diclofenac, thus causing the crash in vulture numbers across South Asia. A second survey in 2006 of a further 1488 carcasses from seven states across India have confirmed these high diclofenac levels, with diclofenac recorded in 11% of carcasses. Additionally, they confirm the presence of other Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in vulture carcasses, some of which (in particular ketoprofen) may also be toxic to vultures. Encouragingly meloxicam, the only NSAID known to be of low toxicity to vultures and other scavenging birds, was found in 4% of livestock carcasses indicating that the veterinary community is beginning to make the switch to this alternative drug. A total of 9 different NSAIDs were evaluate from the samples, Diclofenac was present in 11.1% of samples, and meloxicam (4%),
ibuprofen (0.6%), and ketoprofen (0.5%) were also detected.
The full paper is available to download from Vulture Rescue at this link
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